The library system is moving to a new mobile app! The current library mobile app will not be available after February. This only relates to the library’s mobile app (used on phones and tablets). You can still connect to the library through your desktop, laptop, or mobile device’s web browser at https://smplibrary.bibliocommons.com/ Projected date for the new mobile app is March. We apologize for the inconvenience

Confessions of An Economic Hit Man

Baker & TaylorA former consultant to the U.S. government reveals the inner workings of the high-stakes economic game that encourages third world economies to borrow money so that major corporations like Halliburton end up getting the lucrative contracts.

John Perkins should know—he was an economic hit man. His job was to convince countries that are strategically important to the U.S.—from Indonesia to Panama—to accept enormous loans for infrastructure development, and to make sure that the lucrativeprojects were contracted to U. S. corporations. Saddled with huge debts, these countries came under the control of the United States government, World Bank and other U.S.-dominated aid agencies that acted like loan sharks—dictating repayment terms and bullying foreign governments into submission.

This New York Times bestseller exposes international intrigue, corruption, and little-known government and corporate activities that have dire consequences for American democracy and the world. It is a compelling story that also offers hope and a vision for realizing the American dream of a just and compassionate world that will bring us greater security.

Perkins, a former chief economist at a Boston strategic-consulting firm, confesses he was an ""economic hit man"" for 10 years, helping U.S. intelligence agencies and multinationals cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business.

Baker & TaylorA former consultant to the U.S. government reveals the inner workings of the high-stakes economic game that encourages Third World economies to borrow money so that major corporations like Halliburton end up getting the contracts.

Opinion

From the critics

Community Activity

Comment

This book should be required reading for anyone in HS and older. Learn how our country is screwing over the world. Raping their natural resources for our own gains ... (esp the oil companies) Destroying the rain forests; ending the growth of plants that could eventually save our lives, just so US Corps can make more and more profit. Not only that, we force these countries to borrow money that they will never be able to pay back at the interest rates we charge them, so they will be beholden to us eternally (or whenever this planet dies ... whichever comes first)

WARNING: This story will make you sad and nauseous ... but should be read to inspire us to become more proactive in our politics here.

This book is generally truthful (again, in the general sense only), but do take a skeptical attitude towards this. Perkins does a "tell all" ONLY after he's got all his money from them - - also, Perkins is evidently too spineless to state that he was working for either the Cabot Corporation, or a subsidiary of them. What he describes, Booz-Allen has long been guilty of, yet another "economic hitman firm." Real whistleblowers do so ASAP, not after they've retired with great pensions and perks from Cigna, or this guy from this firm, and so on. (The four Middle Eastern countries which didn't sign on to the banksters' WTO Financial Services Agreement were Iraq, Iran, Libya and Syria. Iraq and Libya have been taken care of, now we await Syria and Iran and the aggression aimed at those two countries?)

you remember the coalition of the willing? you wonder where the allies that support the USA's belligerent military escapades into the middle east come from?

there are these "economic hitmen" that go into developing nations and loan money that, more likely than not, will not be repaid. instead, this loan sharking or predatory lending develops a dependence by these countries on the USA and allows us to use them much like a mafioso would his debtors.

this is a very tragic book that pulls the curtains back and shows you just what those ivy-leaguers are doing behind the scenes to make this country great, and you will feel sorry for these countries that have no choice but to follow america's orders.

This autobiography is an intriguing story of an economic hit man. It is the balance of a personal confession story and an insight to the history of American economics and it's impact of world politics. The books starts off slow but gets better towards the end. John Perkins has a list of notes and references for anyone wanting further information.